When craving a classic pie in Binghamton, many from across the community will flock to the widely popular Paul & Sons Pizza for a taste. Pipe Dream recently sat down with Paul Myers, owner of the student-favorite joint.
Myers, originally from the Pacific Northwest, has worked in the culinary industry for over 30 years. He previously worked for celebrity chefs throughout the country, spending most of his career in fine dining. In 2006, he and his wife, Carrie Blabac-Myers, opened 515, a fine dining restaurant in Montana nominated for a James Beard award, which recognizes “exceptional talent in the culinary and food media industries.” After closing 515, Myers decided to start a new project with Paul & Sons.
“I started in pizza at an early age, when I was around 19, and I’m finishing my career in pizza in my 50s,” Myers said. “So I’m kind of bookended with pizza, both sides of a culinary career.”
Located at 67 1/2 Leroy St. in a row of brick buildings, Paul & Sons is a fixture of Binghamton’s West Side. Behind the register is the kitchen, visible to customers as they wait for their orders. The weekly specials are listed on a chalkboard, along with a map of the world and past news articles featuring the restaurant. On the other wall is a mural reading “Greetings from Binghamton,” covered by towering stacks of pizza boxes.
Paul & Sons does “everything from scratch,” Myers said. The restaurant does not have a freezer, and other than typically packaged goods like olives or artichoke hearts, everything is made “fresh in-house.” Every part of the pizza-making process is carefully curated, from the restaurant’s hours and location to the water-to-flour ratio in the dough and the selection of ingredients.
In the seven years since opening Paul & Sons, Myers said the restaurant has done no official advertising, winning loyal customers through only word of mouth.
“I think that is a testament to just doing something well, putting your head down, kicking, just kind of grinding it out and sticking to your protocols and stuff like that,” Myers said. “Eventually people will either like you or they won’t, but you know you’re authentic in what you do, and hopefully you build an audience through that.”
Born just outside of Portland in Milwaukie, Oregon, and raised in Montana, Myers spent most of his career in the fine dining industry throughout the Pacific Northwest. In Seattle, he worked for Tom Douglas, a James Beard Award-winner and celebrity chef with 13 restaurants. Owning a pizzeria, however, removed him from the exclusivity of fine dining, Myers said.
“I like the fact that when you come in here, it doesn’t matter if you’re doing your laundry and you’re getting one slice or you’re ordering 10 pizzas, you’re the same person to me,” Myers said. “There’s no front of the line.”
Paul & Sons is open Wednesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Myers said the success of Paul & Sons has allowed him to carve out time for his family, with Sundays being a “complete family day.”
As the name suggests, family is a critical part of the Paul & Sons business, down to its location. Blabac-Myers is originally from Binghamton and now works at the Office of Development at the University Libraries. She pushed Myers to open a pizzeria, as Binghamton is a city that supports pizza parlors, and the restaurant itself is only two blocks away from their home.
Blabac-Myers oversees much of the behind-the-scenes operations, including running the social media. Their oldest son, Franklin, works in the kitchen, and Myers hopes his youngest, Truman, will also work with him in the future. He said the restaurant’s name was a way to honor his family.
“I knew it was going to be something that my kids were going to have to give away time with their father because I was going to be here so much,” Myers said. “I felt like it was like an honor, kind of, in honoring them, my boys — just ‘Paul & Sons.’ I mean, it should probably say ‘Paul and Carrie & Sons.’”
Paul & Sons is a favorite among Binghamton students, almost half of whom come from New York City or Long Island. Myers said that downstate students flock to Paul & Sons because it reminds them of home.
“I love New York City pizza and Brooklyn pizza, and this is going to be a showboaty thing to say, but I’m going to say this with conviction, that if Paul & Sons were in a neighborhood of Brooklyn or Queens, we would hold our own down there, absolutely,” Myers said. “We’re not just a good pizzeria for Binghamton. We’re a good pizzeria.”